"Nana…"

"Nee, Saho-chan, who is this?" Nana said tugging Saho’s arm.

“Uh…”

Miki walked over to me and pulled me closer to her.

“Makocchi, what’s wrong with Nana?”

“I think she got possessed by the ghost.”

“N-Nana..-san?” When we looked back, we saw Nana was still clinging onto Saho’s arm and placed her head on her shoulder.

“Saho-chan, you’ve gotten so big~. Hahaha.”

“She really is acting like a child.”

Nana turned her head and saw Miki, smiling widely.

“Miki-chan~!” She ran over to her and hugged her tightly. “You’ve gotten big, too!”

“N-N-Nana!! Y-you’re ch-choking me!!!”

“Nana, let her go.” I quickly separated her from Miki while the younger girl caught her breath. Then, I looked and saw Nana with teary eyes. “Uh, Nana..?”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, nee-chan… Am I bad..?”

“Wha-? N-no! Nana, you’re not bad.” I patted Nana’s head and tried to comfort her. “Right, Miki-chan, Saho?”

“Uh, yeah, right. You’re a good girl, Nana-chan.”

“That’s right, so don’t worry. We’re not mad at you.”

Nana sniffled a bit and looked up at us. “Really?”

Actually, she’s kinda cute this way.

“Really.”

Nana smiled widely and giggled. “Nana’s happy!” I noticed she was playing with her fingers, watching her pointer fingers bend and straighten.

She seemed so giggly watching them, as if she thought she wasn’t doing it herself.

“I thought so.” I snapped my head back and saw Yuko and Ayaka standing there. “We thought something was fishy.”

“We went to check up on Nana, and she was dancing.”

“Dancing?”

Flashback

“Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O~”

Yuko looked through the crack of the door as Nana did her little dance, enjoying herself as she was immersed in her own world.

“Yuko?” Ayaka walked up to her from behind. “What’s up?”

“This?”

“And on that farm, he had a DOG! E-I-E-I-O~”

“What is she doing?”

“I’m not sure.”

The two walked in, and just as they did, one of the wooden planks on the floor creaked. Nana stopped and ran over to the bedside, crouching down and watching them from behind.

“Nana?”

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Before Yuko could touch Nana, she backed away more and tightened herself into a ball. Ayaka looked and saw a small pair of pink shoes on the ground.

“There’s some strong spiritual energy surrounding these shoes.”

“Don’t tell me…” Yuko looked back and saw Nana stand up, staring at the two of them. “Are you Aoki Nana-chan? We’ve heard a lot about you. What are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, Nana got closer and started squeezing Yuko’s arm.

“Eh?”

“Squishy~”

Ayaka couldn’t help but crack up as Yuko tried to contain her embarrassment. How could her training not give her enough muscle to surpass the mind of a child?!

“Nana, we need to do a few things up here, so why don’t you go play downstairs?”

“Eh… But Nana wants to play with you, obaa-chan.”

“OBAA-CHAN?! I’m 25!!!”

“Don’t worry. We have some friends downstairs who would love to meet you. Just stay downstairs until we need you, okay? Then, I promise, we’ll play with you all you want.”

Nana lifted up her pinky. “Pinky promise?”

Yuko saw how her eyes were sparkling and her eyes got wider. Obviously, this Nana loved pinky promises.

“Yeah.” She lifted her pinky and wrapped it around Nana’s. “Pinky promise.”

“Pinky promise, pinky promise, if I tell a lie, stick me with a thousand needles! Swear on my pinky!”

Nana smiled happily and ran downstairs. Yuko looked back and chuckled at Ayaka.

“So, you’re already an obaa-chan, huh? HAHAHAHA!”

“Shut up! You’re the same age as me!”

End of Flashback

“So that explains that.” All of us turned to look at Nana in the center of the room, drawing with her crayons happily.

“Now what do we do?”

“Can you guys get rid of the ghost when she’s inside of Nana-san?”

“We can probably reason with her so she can leave, but it’s much more than that.”

“Spirits can create a strong bond with their emotions or memories of the past. Obviously, there’s something that’s binding Aoki Nana to this world and keeping her from crossing over.”

“But, if we can help relieve her of those feelings, her soul will finally be free and can leave.”

“First, we’ve gotta find out what that is.”

“Um, can we get Nana-chan’s ghost out of Nana-san first?”

Ayaka nodded and walked over to Nana, still humming as she swung her feet. She pulled out her paintbrush and recited a few chants before sprinkling a bit of dust over Nana.

Nana let out a loud yawn and drop the crayon in her hand. Her head started nodding and gently fell to the ground as she fell asleep.

She waved the brush around and I could see a spirit start to be pulled out slowly. Ayaka had a pained expression on her face as she tried to release the spirit from Nana’s body. A sudden force made her drop and the ghost re-entered Nana.

“It failed?”

“But, that’s never happened before. Is Aoki Nana really that strong?”

“She’s been here for so long. It’s going to be harder to remove her than we thought.”

“We’re going to have to use a more standard method.”

“What’s that?”

“Ghosts are bound by emotions. These emotions can be connected by memories, wishes, and even grudges. She obviously stayed as long as she has to finish something.”

“Meaning?”

“If we grant Nana-chan’s wish…”

“Then she can finally be free.”

Nana let out a small groan as she woke up from her short nap, rubbing her eyes cutely.

“What happened?”

“Ohayou, Nana-chan~. You fell asleep.”

“Really?” She let out a large yawn. “I must’ve stayed awake for too long. I missed my nap…”

Since about 12 years or so…

“Come on, Nana!” Saho took her hands and helped her up. “Let’s play.”

“Yay~”

…..

“Kaiba, you have failed me too many times!” The master boomed as his servant was standing in front of him.

“I apologize, my Lord.” He bowed before the dark figure. “I shall not fail you next time.”

“There won’t be a ‘next time’ for you, for a while.”

“What?”

“You’ve shown that what you have been doing is as good as nothing. I need to rely on someone else this time.”

“And that will be me.” A voice rose from the darkness. It was Isako, a paper fan opened in her hand and covering the bottom half of her face, hiding her grin.

“Isako…”

“I shall go to Earth and defeat the girls, my Lord. Don’t you worry.”

“Thank you, Isako.”

As the two servants walked off, Isako smiled as she closed her fan.

“Truly, though, Kaiba, you have been at this for too long~”

“That heart will be mine.”

“Oh? And what will you do with it then? Give it to your oh so perfect ‘Lord’ like you always say? Or will you—”

Kaiba grabbed and pulled her close, sneering.

“Don’t you even say it, you !” he growled in a low voice so the Demon King would not hear.

“Even if you do retrieve the heart, Kaiba, we ALL know how it will end for you.” She said before disappearing.

Kaiba gritted his teeth before walking to his large wolf. He revealed some red markings on his hands, hidden under his gloves, and they started to glow along with the ookami’s marks.

He let out a painful roar and the chains binding it tightened as its mind felt scrambled and he went crazy. His eyes went red and he collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. Kaiba grinned and knelt down to its ear.

“You are never going back.”

…..

“Ah, Nana!” There was a loud crash and a scream from the lower hall. When we looked, we saw some of the books from the shelves knocked over.

“Itai~” Nana whined as she held her head.

“Are you okay?”

“A book hit my head~”

I patted her head as Miki picked up one of the books.

“Hey, Saho-chan, didn’t Nana-chan’s parents study Russian for a while?”

“Oh yeah, I think they did.”

“Why were they studying Russian?”

“It was for a job they had overseas. When they were learning it, Nana just happened to overhear their conversations and insisted they teach her.”

“Здравствуйте.” Nana suddenly said.

“Eh?”

“That’s how you say ‘hello’.”

“Oh. What’s ‘thank you’?”

“Спасибо.”

“And ‘goodbye’?”

“До свидания!”

“She really likes this, huh?” Yuko chuckled. “What’s ‘good night’?”

Before she could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Nana got up and walked over to the lobby, opening the door.

“Yappo!”

“Well, hello, little one,” said the woman at the door, dressed in all black with a large hat covering her face. I saw a grin of her red lipstick covered mouth behind her hair.

“Who are you, obaa-san?”

“I came here to see you.” She grabbed Nana’s head and pulled her back, wrapping her arm around her neck.

“Kyaa! Guys, help me!”

“Nana!”

“Saho-chan, Miki-chan, help me!” she screamed as she tried to release herself. A dark energy formed on the woman’s hand and shocked her, making her collapse to the ground.

“Nana-san!” Saho and I tried to wake her up, but she was rendered unconscious, her body shaking as if she were having a seizure.

“Too late, girls. She’s already fallen into an abyss of terror.”

“You… What are you?!”

“I am a demon worshipper, child. I can bring your mind deep into darkness and awaken your worst nightmares.”

She reached her hand out to Saho, but before she could make contact, Ayaka blocked her hand, holding her brush in her palm.

“Ah, an onmyouji, huh? Are you kin to Abe no Seimei? How cute.”

“Leave us be.”

“No can do, little fox. Don’t you want to save your friend, there?” she smiled and pointed to Nana, collapsed and unconscious. “Soon enough, she will never wake up from her eternal sleep.”

“Why you..!” Yuko transformed into a raccoon and jumped up to pull her hat over her eyes.

“Guys, go take Saho and Nana somewhere safe!”

“Right!” Me and Miki quickly picked Nana up and ran with Saho upstairs, locking ourselves in one of the rooms. Saho was having a minor panic attack and slid down to the floor, up against the wall. “Saho-chan, we can explain.”

“You better! What is happening out there?! What exactly are those people?!”

“Saho, just stay calm.”

“And who was that woman?! What did she do to Nana-san?!”

“Look, I know this is hard to understand, but please trust us.”

“What are we supposed to do?!”

As she kept freaking out, mine and Miki’s rings started glowing. Gently, I placed my hand over Saho’s head and she slowly calmed down and fell asleep.

I sighed as we both leaned against the wall.

“Now what do we do?”

I looked and saw Nana still sprawled on the ground, sweat beads on her forehead with a pained expression on her face.

Nana…

…..

Aoki Nana. Okada Nana.

The two of them looked at each other, darkness surrounding them.

“Okada-san… I’m sorry.” the little one said. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I just wanted to play with Saho-chan and Miki-chan again.”

“It’s okay.” the older one said as she patted her head. “I understand.”

“I’ve been waiting for so long, just to see them, to be with them one more time.”

“You were really close with them, weren’t you?”

“Un.”

An image appeared before the two girls. It was Nana, before she died, with Miki and Saho. The three of them were coloring together, happy and smiling.

“Nee, Saho-chan, Miki-chan! Let’s go on a picnic tomorrow!”

“Yay~ Picnic!”

“Meet me outside my house tomorrow. My parents can take us.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Nana set down her crayon and held out her pinky. “Pinky promise?”

“Yeah. Pinky promise!” Saho wrapped her finger around Nana’s and smiled. “I promise that you, me, Miki-chan, and Mama and Papa will ALL go on a picnic tomorrow!”

“And I’ll make the sandwiches you like so much, Nana-chan.”

“Uwaa~ arigatou!”

“Pinky swear, pinky swear! If I tell a lie, stick me with a thousand needles! Swear on my pinky!”

The image fainted and the older Nana looked over to the child beside her.

“So, that’s why you didn’t cross over. You wanted to keep your promise.”

“Of course. I swore on my pinky that we’d all have our picnic!”

“I see…”

“Nana-san…” The child turned to Okada Nana and she raised her pinky. “Will you absolutely… ABSOLUTELY promise that we can have a picnic with Saho-chan and Miki-chan?”

The teenage girl smiled and wrapped her pinky around hers.

“Yes. I will.”

Just then, her ring glowed as a blue aura surrounded the both of them.

“Pinky swear, pinky swear! If I tell a lie, stick me with a thousand needles! Swear on my pinky!”

…..

“Mako! Miki!” I heard Yuko yelling at us outside the hall.

When we looked out, we saw Yuko and Ayaka trying to fight the woman. Yuko was being tied down by some weird black chains as Ayaka used her magic against her attacks.

“We could use some help here!”

“On it!”

“Hey, Mako-chan,” Miki tapped my shoulder and smiled at me. “Like we practiced.”

“Uh… oh, alright.”

“Alright! Let’s do this!” She held out her hand and posed. I sighed and did the same, but slightly different.

“*Henshin! Tentomu chu!” She kissed her ring.

“Chu!” I kissed mine, too. We both started glowing simultaneously and transformed into our outfits. I took a deep breath before posing like Miki showed me. “A pure heart that holds the strongest love. Tentomu Red, Kojima Mako!”

“Bringing down the lighting and crashing louder than thunder! Tentomu Yellow, Nishino Miki!”

“We are Tentomu chu! In the name of love and justice…”

“We will defeat you! Hai!”

The demon worshipper glared at us and released Ayaka. “Huh, interesting. I’m Isako, a servant to my Master, the Demon King.”

“We know exactly who you are and why you’re here.”

“We’re here to stop you!”

“Oh? Try me.”

She snapped her fingers and suddenly a few shadow figures appeared before us.

“Now, my *Shadow puppets, destroy them!”

The Shadow puppets lunged forward and went to attack us, but then me and Miki summoned our weapons and blocked them.

“Girls, since the Shadows are made out of Dark magic, you should be able to counteract with Light magic!”

“On it!” I raised my hand and cast a Light spell that pushed them back a bit. “Miki!”

“OK~!”

As one of the Puppets charged at her, Miki created an orb of lightning and threw it at her, causing it to explode and disappear.

“Alright! We’ll call that the Thunder-sphere!”

“Damn you!” The woman made her Puppets charged again, then Miki and I pulled out our weapons and fought against them.

They were strong, however, and pushed us back. I saw Yuko still struggling to get out, so I cut the chains around her and freed her.

“Thanks, Mako-chan.”

“Anytime.”

“See if you can get out of THIS!” Another dark chain came at Miki and Yuko. It was about to wrap around them, but then…

*SLASH*

“Eh?”

When I looked, I saw Nana standing in front of the two of them, surrounded by a powerful blue aura.

“Nana?”

“Which one?!” Miki asked the more important question here.

“Impossible! How did you resist my nightmare curse?!”

“I resisted your magic before it could effect either of us.”

Us?!

Nana transformed and created a wind barrier that pushed the woman back.

“The gentle breeze blowing the wind of life. Tentomu Blue, Okada Nana.” She said as the wind subsided. “You take care of the Shadow Puppets. I’ll fight the Akuma.”

“Uh, oh. OK.”

“Tell me your name, Akuma.”

“My name is Isako, and just so you know, I don’t like playing with children.” She said before creating another chain and throwing it towards Nana.

She summoned her spear instantly and blocked the chain, slicing it in two. The staff broke apart into different pieces attached by a chain and she threw it towards Isako. The blade just missed her as it barely sliced one of her hairs before crashing into the wall.

“Why you..!”

Isako’s nails grew long and slashed at Nana, but she dodged just in time.

Nana circled the air in her palms and created a small orb of wind before throwing it at the demon, throwing her back.

“Now, Finishing Move!”

Suddenly, a blue aura surrounded her and the wind gathered in her hands, surrounding her spear. She it forward and a powerful wind sliced through Isako.

“Argh!” She held her stomach as it started bleeding and gritted her teeth. She coughed up some blood and wiped off her crimson red lips. “How could you have gotten so strong already?”

Nana just smiled as the aura around her subsided.

“This isn’t the last you’ve seen me. I will defeat you,” she said before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

I slowly stood up and watched as the three of us de-transformed.

“Nana… That was amazing.”

“How did you..?”

“Gomen… Miki-chan… Mako-san…”

“Eh?” Right now, is it Aoki Nana?

Just then, Nana suddenly fell to her knees, holding her chest as her breathing got heavier.

“Nana!”

“Nana-chan!”

“I’m sorry… ha… I think.. it’s time for me to go…”

Go? So, that means, Nana…

“Okada-san!” We all looked up and saw Saho was coming down the stairs. Looks like she woke up. “What’s going on? Where did that woman go?”

“She left. We took care of her.”

“More importantly…” Yuko pointed over at Nana.

“Nana-san! What happened?!”

“Saho-chan…”

“Wait… Nana-chan.”

“I’m sorry I.. scared you.. I just wanted… to be with the both of you.. so I could keep our promise…”

“Promise?”

“Ah…” Both Miki and Saho’s expressions changed, as if they remembered.

“That’s right…”

“That day… we were going to have a picnic together. I completely forgot.”

Saho hugged Nana and tried to hold her tears. “I’m so sorry, Nana-chan. I broke our promise.”

“Saho-chan… Miki-chan…”

“I’m sorry too! I wish, I could make it up to you somehow…”

Nana weakly smiled as the light slowly started leaving her eyes.

“Thank you…”

“Nana-chan…”

“Goodbye…” she said before her eyes slowly closed and she fell asleep in Saho’s arms. Saho couldn’t see it because she was crying, but me and Miki saw a small orb of light float out of Nana and turn into a little girl.

She smiled at us and waved goodbye before disappearing.

Aoki… Nana.

…..

“I am very disappointed in you, Isako.”

“I’m sorry.” Isako bowed in front of the demon king. “Please give me one more chance. I will defeat them next time.”

“I understand that you had difficulty defeating them. But that is no excuse.”

“Please! It was that girl, she was too strong. Give me another chance, and I’ll take down a weaker one.”

After remaining silent for a few seconds, he simply sighed.

“Very well.”

She went back to her station and approached her mirror, waving her hand over it and watching the smoke swirl before it showed the seven girls.

“I really shouldn’t underestimate these girls. Tell me, magic mirror, which one of them will be the easiest to get rid of?”

Six of the girls slowly disappeared, leaving only one.

Mako.

“Ah… this one.”

…..

After a long day, we were finally able to clear things up for Saho. Ayaka erased her memory of Isako attacking us and the battle we had with her, and Nana’s spirit has been lifted.

I think we’re okay. But, I was still very surprised remembering how Nana fought. It was almost as if Aoki Nana was still inside her, and the two of them fought together as one.

“Hey, Umechan,” Miki spoke up, “What was up with Nana earlier? Did she fight with Nana-chan still inside her?”

“It seems so.”

“That might be an ability awakened by Nana herself.”

“Really?”

“Since Nana has the ability to sense the supernatural and communicate with spirits, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was able to use Aoki Nana’s spirit to strengthen her aura.”

That’s amazing… If we all have special abilities like that, I wonder what mine is…

Just then, I heard Nana stir as she slowly woke up.

“Hm… what happened?”

“Nana!” Miki immediately hugged her tight. “Thank goodness!”

“Miki? Mako? What was I..?”

“Aoki Nana’s spirit possessed you.”

“Don’t you remember anything?”

“Eh..? That’s right… I had a dream while I was asleep. I was fighting one of the Akuma, with… that girl.. Was she Nana?”

“Yes, and don’t worry. She’s okay now, and we erased Saho’s memory of when Isako came and attacked us.”

“We’re glad you’re back, Nana.”

She looked at me and smiled, but I saw something different in her eyes. Like she saw something strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.” She brushed it off so easily. But still, I feel like she’s hiding something. “Come on, let’s get back to the agency.”

We all decided it was best to leave and drove back to the agency building. Walking up to the office, Yuko slowly opened the door.

*SPLASH*

“EHH?!”

=========================

Footnotes

*1. “Henshin!” - A phrase often said by superheroes when they transform.

*2. Shadow puppets - Dark beings that are often summoned to aid the Akuma. They are made of pure darkness, which is why they’re “shadows”.